The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Blaine County's first hemp seed crop harvested under new state guidelines

Dick and Nellie Jo Nicholson pose in their harvested field of industrial hemp seeds. This was the Nicholson's first attempt at growing the seeds which will be pressed for oil. Montana began a pilot program in 2017 to license growers within guidelines approved by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. The first year 10 Montana producers raised industrial hemp, this year 49 were licensed to do so.

Dick Nicholson recently harvested 200 acres of industrial hemp. The crop is a first for Blaine County under a provision of the national Agricultural Act of 2014, also known as the 2014 Farm Bill. That bill allowed states to devise a program to license the growing of industrial hemp. Montana's first planting under the process occurred in 2017. Nicholson said, "Last year there were 10 licensed hemp producers, this year there were 49." And he expects the number of industrial hemp growers in Montana to continue upward.

Ian Foley, Pest Management Program Manager for the Montana Department of Agr...